James McCartan is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player who played at senior level for the Down county team between 1990 and 2000. McCartan was part of the Down team that won the

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

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and

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. McCartan also won two

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is usu ...

s with the county. At underage level McCartan won Ulster Minor and

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it were replaced by an under ...

medals. He also won two All Star awards during his career. McCartan usually played as a corner forward. He was renowned for his speed, swerving runs at the defence and scoring ability. McCartan is regarded as one of the Down's best ever footballers. In 2009 to mark the 125th anniversary of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

he was named by ''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its view ...

'' as one of the all-time best 125 footballers from Ulster. In 2009, he took charge of the Down senior team, leading them to the 2010 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final in his first season in charge. He stepped down in 2014.

Early life and family

McCartan is from Tullylish,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

. His father, also called

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, is regarded as one of the game's all-time greats and won three All-Ireland medals with Down in the 1960s. James's brothers

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

and Eoin are current members of the Down team, while Charlie Pat also played for Down and Brian was the captain of the 1987 Down minor team that won the All-Ireland Minor Championship. He is

Greg Blaney Greg Blaney is an Irish dual player who played Gaelic football and hurling for Down in the 1980s and 1990s. He was part of the Down team that won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1991 and 1994. Blaney won three Ulster Senior Fo ...

's cousin.

Playing career

Club

Inter-county

In 1986 at just 15 years old McCartan helped the Down

Minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

team win the Ulster Minor title. In 1987 McCartan helped the Down

team win both the Ulster Minor and

s. McCartan made his Down

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

debut in 1990. For his performances in the 1990 Championship he received an All Star award. He was the star player during the NFL in which Down was defeated by Meath in the final. In

he won his first Ulster Championship medal, with Down beating

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

in the decider. Down defeated

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...

in the All-Ireland semi-final, before beating Meath in the All-Ireland final. McCartan was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

for his display in the final. The success was Down's first

title since 1968. McCartan won a second Ulster Championship medal with Down in

- overcoming Tyrone comfortably in the decider. Victories over

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

in the All-Ireland semi-final and

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in the final gave McCartan another All-Ireland Senior medal. For his performances that year he received another All Star. McCartan reached further Ulster finals with Down in 1996, 1999 and 2003, but the county were beaten on each occasion. He retired from inter-county football in 2003.

Province

McCartan also represented

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

on many occasions, and won the

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

four times with the province.

International rules

McCartan played two games for the

Ireland international rules football team :''This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Irish women's team, see Ireland women's international rules football team.'' :''This article concerns the hybrid sport of International Rules Football; for information on Ireland's n ...

in the victorious

1990 International Rules series The 1990 International Rules Series was the fourth series between Australian rules footballers from Australia and Gaelic footballers from Ireland. The series took place in Australia and consisted of three test matches between the Australian and Ir ...

. In 2001, he helped the

Ireland national Australian rules football team The Irish national Australian rules football team ( ga, Foireann peile rialacha na hAstrálie náisiúnta na hÉireann) represent Ireland in Australian rules football and is selected from the best Irish born and raised players primarily from ...

claim the

Atlantic Alliance Cup The Atlantic Alliance Cup is an international Australian rules football tournament run every 3 years. The inaugural tournament pitted clubs and national teams from the North Atlantic together. History Like the Australian Football International ...

School/college

McCartan won

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. ...

medals with

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

in 1990 and 1993.

Managerial career

Queen's University

Since retiring McCartan has managed a number of teams. The first team he took charge of was Queen's University who he led to

glory in 2007.

Down

On 11 September 2009, he was named manager of the Down senior football team. He led his team to the 2010 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final in his first season in charge but they lost to

. Down had a poor 2011 season only winning 3 Championship games. In 2012 James led Down to their first League Semi-final in 22 years where they played

. It was a close game but Cork won 2–17 to 1-12. McCartan led Down to their first

final since 2003 coming back from 0–11 to 0–02 to win by 1–14 to 1-13. In July 2014 McCartan stepped down as boss after 5 years in charge.

Playing honours

Inter-county

(2) 1991 1994 *

(2) 1991 1994 * National Football League Division 3 (1) 1997 *

(1) 1987 *

Ulster Minor Football Championship The Ulster Minor Football Championship is the Minor "knockout" competition in the game of Gaelic football played in the province of Ulster in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Ulster Council. The trophy for the winning side is Th ...

(2) 1986 1987

Province

* 4

s 1991 1993 1994 1995

School/college

* 2

s 1990 1993 * 2

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The win ...

s 1986 1988 * 2

Hogan Cup The Hogan Cup ( ga, Corn Uí Ógáin), also known as the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Football Championship, is the top level Gaelic football championship for secondary schools (sometimes referred to as colleges) in Ireland. The com ...

s 1986 1988

Club

* 1

London Senior Football Championship The London Senior Football Championship is a Gaelic Athletic Association cup competition between the top Gaelic football clubs in London, England. The London Football championship began in 1897 with Ireland United winning the first title. Tir Ch ...

1990

Individual

* 2 All Stars 1990 1994 * 1

Final Man of the Match 1991

Manager

* 1 Inter-County

Runner-Up

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

* 1 Inter-County

Runner-Up

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

* 2 Ryan Cups 2006 2007 * 1 Sigerson Cup 2007 * 1 Down Senior Football League 2006

References

External links

Interview with ''Hogan Stand'' magazine

Official Down GAA website

Down star apologises for his behaviour during loyalist parade
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCartan, James Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Burren Gaelic footballers Coaches of Gaelic football teams at Irish universities Down inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football forwards Gaelic football managers Irish international rules football players Queen's University Belfast Gaelic footballers Tír Chonaill Gaels Gaelic footballers Tullylish Gaelic footballers Winners of two All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football)